Chuck wrench



Qct.'6,-1970 H. PRYOR 3,532,012 I CHUCK WRENCH Filed Feb. 17, 1969 I am an. LEILJLT'JFJWIUM IN V EN TOR.

Hwy 1. P2 we BY United States Patent Office 3,532,012 Patented Oct. 6, 1970 3,532,012 CHUCK WRENCH Henry L. Pryor, Sacramento, Calif., assignor to Lowell Dean Pryor, Sacramento, Calif. Filed Feb. 17, 1969, Ser. No. 799,845 Int. Cl. B25b 13/06, 17/00 US. Cl. 81-5719 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A body is provided with right-angularly arranged bearings supporting for rotation a bevel pinion and a bevel gear, the former of which is turned by a rod and the latter of which supports a chuck carrying socket wrench particularly for adjusting the clutches of Volkswagen automobiles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The device comprises a body having right-angularly disposed bearings one of which supports a stub shaft having a bevel pinion at its upper end and a Wrench-engaging socket at its lower end. The other bearing supports a chuck body having formed integral therewith a bevel gear meshing with said bevel pinion. A socket wrench is carried by the chuck and is adapted to engage the adjusting nut of a Volkswagen clutch. This adjusting nut is backed up by a jam nut, and the socket wrench is provided with a recess into which said jam nut is adapted to be inserted so that the wrench spans the jam nut in moving into engagement with the adjusting nut. A rotatable rod having a polygonal end is insertable into the wrench socket of the stub shaft to rotate it and through the pinion and bevel gear, to rotate the chuck and socket wrench and thus turn the adjusting nut. This nut will move away from the jam nut to effect the necessary adjustment, whereupon the device may be removed and the jam nut tightened by an ordinary wrench.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the device, parts of the clutch adjusting mechanism being shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a modification of the device taken as suggested by the line 44 in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is an end elevation in fragmentary form corresponding to FIG. 2 showing the modified form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, the numeral designates the body of the device as a whole comprising a pair of bearings 12 and 14 arranged perpendicular to each other. The bearing 14 rotatably supports a stub shaft 16, the lower end of which projects below the body 10 as at 18 and is provided with a polygonal socket 20 adapted to receive the polygonal upper end 22 of a rod 24 rotatable by a crank or other suitable means to rotate the stub shaft 16. The shaft is provided at its upper end with a bevel pinion 2'6 maintained in position by a snap ring 28.

The bearing 12 rotatably supports a chuck having a reduced left-hand end 32. as viewed in FIG. 2 and is provided with a bevel gear 34 meshing with the pinion 26. The chuck 30 is maintained in position by a snap ring 36.

The chuck 30 is provided with an axial opening 38 enlarged at its right-hand end in FIG. 3 as at 40 to provide a hexagonal opening to receive the reduced end 42 of a socket wrench 44. The wrench is provided with an hexagonal socket 46 adapted to engage the adjusting nut 48 of a Volkswagen clutch, the nut 48 bearing against the clutch casing 50' and being threaded on a shaft 52 having a flexible cable 54 extending therefrom to the clutch to adjust the latter. The nut 48 is backed up by a jam nut 56. The reduced end 42 of the socket wrench is provided with an opening 58, which may be hexagonal and is of a size sufiiciently large to freely relatively rotatably receive the nut 56. Thus it will be apparent that the wrench 44 may be moved into engagement with the adjusting nut 48, the jam nut 56 being receivable in the opening 58 to allow the operation to take place.

While the wrench is primarily intended for use in adjusting the clutches of Volkswagen automobiles, it is capable of more general use as a wrench. The opening 40 (FIG. 3) is shown as being hexagonal and the same type opening may be provided in the modified form in FIGS. 4 and 5. However, the corresponding opening in the latter figures, indicated by the numeral 60, has been shown square and it will be apparent that any polygonally shaped opening may be employed. For use as an ordinary wrench, the opening 60 may receive the reduced end 62 of a socket wrench 64, and the reduced end 62 in this case may be solid, as shown in FIG. 4. If desired, the chuck 30' in this case, as well as in the preferred form of the invention, may be provided with a conventional bullet catch 64 shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3.

OPERATION For use in adjusting the clutch of a Volkswagen, the form of the device shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 will be used. The wrench is inserted into the proper position shown in FIG. 1, then moved to the right to engage the socket wrench 44 with the adjusting nut 48, the jam nut 56 being received in the opening 58. The opening provides a recess to receive the jam nut so that the socket wrench 44 is free to move over the jam nut 56 to engage the adjusting nut 48. The rod 24 will now be turned to rotate the nut 48 to move it to the right relative to the shaft 52 and will tend to move away from the jam nut 56. After the clutch has been adjusted, the device is removed and the jam nut 56 will be tightened hard against the adjusting nut 48.

As previously stated, the wrench is capable of general application and to this end a variety of sizes of sockets 64 (FIG. 4) having the same sized extension 62 may be inserted in position in the chuck 30 to rotate nuts to tighten or loosen them upon rotation of the rod 24. As stated, however, the device is primarily intended for adjusting the clutches of Volkswagens and saves a great deal of time in the performance of this operation as well as greatly facilitating the performance of the operation.

It will be noted that the bevel gear 34 is no larger than the bearing opening in which the chuck is rotatable so that the chuck may be inserted through the right-hand end of the device as viewed in FIG. 3, Withdrawal of the chuck being prevented by the snap ring 36. The wrench socket 18 forms a shoulder engaging the bottom of the bearing 14 and the pinion 26 is no larger than the bearing opening for the stub shaft 16. Accordingly, this shaft may be inserted through the bottom of the bearing 14, and the snap ring 28 fixes the stub shaft in position against removal. Accordingly, the device is not only simple and efficient in operation, but may be very quickly and easily assembled.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided an improved chuck wrench which ac complishes all of the objects of this invention and others, including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance.

As various embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, and as many modifications may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore shown and described, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A chuck wrench for use in turning a nut backed up by a smaller jam nut which comprises a body having perpendicularly arranged bearings, a shaft in one of said bearings having a bevel pinion, a chuck rotatable in the other bearing, a socket Wrench having a reduced hollow end insertable into said chuck, said reduced end and said chuck having corresponding polygonal engaging surfaces, said socket wrench having a socket provided with a polygonal opening engageable with said larger nut, said reduced end having an opening of sufficient size to relatively rotatably receive said jam nut, said first-named bearing having an opening rotatably receiving said stub shaft, said bevel pinion being no larger than such opening, and a snap ring around said stub shaft between said bevel pinion and said first-named bearing to prevent Withdrawal of said stub shaft.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said chuck is provided with an enlarged end in which said reduced end of said wrench is arranged, the other end of said chuck being reduced to provide a shoulder at which said bevel gear is formed, said bevel gear being no larger than the opening in said bearing whereby said chuck is insertable into such opening from the end thereof opposite said pinion gear, and means co-acting between said chuck and said second-named bearing to prevent withdrawal of said chuck.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein said chuck is provided with an annular groove between said bevel gear and said second-named bearing, said means for preventing withdrawal of said chuck comprising a snap ring in said groove engaging the opposite end of said second-named bearing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,701,490 2/1955 Griparis 81'57.29 2,735,324 2/1956 Goldwater et a1. 8159.1 X 3,362,267 1/1968 Rozmus 81-59.1 2,878,701 3/1959 Weersma 81-121 X 1,579,818 4/1926 Kennedy 8l-57.29 X 1,526,502 2/1925 Pilger 8157.29

FOREIGN PATENTS 17,351 1911 Great Britain.

JAMES L. JONES, 1a., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 81-121 

